26-yr-old school dropout woman cheats 150 people, caught by police

Bengaluru, Nov 6: A 26-year-old woman, who is said to have conned at least 150 people in various parts of the country and has had several run-ins with the police, is now cooling her heels behind bars for cheating a city advocate.

Kushbu Sharma, a native of Jaipur in Rajasthan and a school dropout, used to pose as a Supreme Court lawyer, an IAS?officer, CEO of a well-known software firm, a top celebrity and at times as daughter of a politician to cheat her victims.

On Friday, the Pulakeshi Nagar police arrested her for cheating advocate Sanketh Yenagi. Kushbu met Sanketh and introduced herself as a lawyer practising in the Supreme Court and expressed her wish to join his firm, the police said. After learning that Sanketh was looking for a bigger office space, Kushbu offered to help him get an office on rent in UB City.

She had also told Sanketh that her father was a retired IAS officer and owned a share in UB City. Sanketh entered into an agreement with her and fixed the rent based on the percentage of profit he would earn from his work. On October 28, they completed the formalities and Sanketh paid her Rs 1.35 lakh, said the police.

A few days ago, Sanketh went to meet his associate in the court and asked Kushbu who accompanied him to wait in his car. When he returned after sometime, he found her missing with his coat which had a wallet containing Rs 25,000, an iPhone and a suitcase with documents. He tried calling her but her mobile was switched off. He went home and while surfing the internet, he checked on her and discovered that she was a career con woman.

He later lodged a complaint and informed the police about her past record.

“Meanwhile, the police who were tracking her mobile phone found that she was travelling near Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. But they lost the signal as she switched off the mobile phone. While Sanketh received a call from Kushbu from another phone number, she told him she wanted more money to refurbish the office and asked him to meet her. She had not realised that Sanketh by now knew her past,” a senior police officer said.

Sanketh asked her to meet him near his office in Pulakeshinagar.

“On Friday evening, when she came to meet him, plainclothes men arrested her. She kicked up a ruckus claiming that she was from a well-known family and that they would land in the soup if they troubled her,” added the officer.

The police have recovered Rs 1.2 lakh from her.

Kushbu claimed that she lost her right hand in a train accident.

She was residing in a paying guest accommodation in Indiranagar and had told the PG?owner she was a lawyer.

She had obtained a fake degree certificate and spoke fluent English.

She used her attractive personality to cheat people in Mumbai, Pune, Rajasthan and other places, police said.

Recently, she was arrested by the Mumbai Police for cheating a man.

She was arrested by several state police, but she came out on bail and continued cheating people, said the police.